24S 



Geological Desiderata. 



[April 



of the ocean a few feet under the present surface of the ground, 

 as we find it at Madras. The present town of Bararoor, north 

 of Mangalore, and supposed by Rennell and Robertson to have 

 been the Barace of ancient geographers, and which is now situated 

 two or three miles from the mouth of the river, is traditionally 

 said to have been situated close to the sea-shore, and its port frequent- 

 ed by large ships from all quarters of the globe ; extensive tracts of 

 marine sand and pelagic remains, a considerable distance inland, and 

 the discovery of the hull of an antique vessel of considerable dimen- 

 sions, and of a construction not known to the natives, buried in the 

 earth, several miles inland near Cannanore, corroborate this tradition. 

 Some of the Brahmins do not hesitate to assert that the wliole of the 

 coast was raised up from the bed of the ocean for their exclusive use. 



Nothing but small native craft can now ascend the river to Bararoor, 

 and its trade in consequence has been greatly diminished. The an- 

 cient town and fort of Calicut is said to have stood on a bank, now sub- 

 merged by the sea, a little to the south of the present site. It would 

 be desirable to mark and register the rocks now, as thuse on the shores 

 of the Baltic have been done, at various places along both coasts, in 

 order that the respective limits of these supposed undulatory movements 

 may be traced satisfactorily at some future period. 



9. — Observations on the terrestrial and marine deposits now accumu- 

 lating at the estuaries of large rivers and backwaters, particularly m 

 those of the Malabar coast, both as regards the way in which the ac- 

 cumulation takes place, the degree of mixture and relative proportion 

 of the marine and terrestrial deposits, and the quantity annually deposi. 

 ted. Observations on the causes affecting alterations and shifting of 

 the mouths of rivers would also be interesting. 



10. — Investigations into the nature of the beautiful dendritic appear- 

 ances observed between the layers of the laminar limestones and clay- 

 slates of India, and those in the interior of moss stones, mocha stones 

 and agates, usually attributed to metallic infiltralion. A specimen of 

 the Talicota limestone from the Rastia's territory exhibited appear- 

 ances so strongly characteristic of the vegetable kingdom, as to induce 

 me to send it to Dr. Wight, who kindly examined it, and stated his 

 opinion of its being a species of fucus. 



11. — Accounts of the geology of India, south of Madras to Cape 

 Comorin. 



12. — Boring experiments through the limestone and sandstone for- 

 mations of Cuddapah and Kurnool, and through the carboniferous 

 Strata in the laterite near Quilon and Cannanore, discovered in 1832 by 



